Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-06
A IA WALSH.


In his last official report, ex-Lsnd Com
missioner Walsh, in discussing the lease
law, declared that - check had been
placed upon immigration and settlement,
as shown by the register, for nearly two
years" And, then, Mr.. Walsh proceeded
to attribute this direful result to the
dozen free grass papers which had OPP
posed the law and predicted its inevitable
results.
The Houston Post has been one of the
most persistent and able advocates of the
lease, and at one time boosted that the
only revision OF the law would be an il
crease of the rental price to % cents an
acre. The editor Of the Post has just
written letter to his paper in which he
says:
AUSTIN, TEX, Feb 1T is as bad as can
be-" replied a prominent stoCkman when asked
about the outlook for the cattle int ests of
the state. "The cowmen have been well nigh
, uined by bad legislation,' continued he, land
there Is not 4 man among them TO day VINO
would not sell out and ltave Texas if he were
given half chance This WIS putting it too
strongly, perhaps, and yet there Is no question
that the cattle interests have suffered very ma
terially in the last, not through the operation
of had laws, particuIaTig, but because OF
the lack of good and specific laws.
To some extent it was the cattlem MS
own fault. They are to blame, TO certain
degree for the prejudice which has grown up
against themselves in different portions of
the state. Had they shown & different spirit
at the cutseL-been less naughty and dicta-
torial-they would have Jared far better at the
hands of the Legislature and the people.
They should, in good faith, have met the effort
in behalf of the common school fund OF the
state, thus disarming their enemies and avert
ing the prejudice Oh mas grown up.
But it is useless to argue this point now. 1t
were better to let the past bury It's dead, and
look well to the future. We are confronted
with the fact that the great Industry which, in
the past, has brought millions into Texas is
fast languisr ing, and already has the death
rattle This is not an eXtravagGnt assertion,
! have talked TO people from all portions OF
the state, and the universal verdict is
that If the present Legislature should fail
to pass the right kind of laws, the results
in the near future must prove absolutely
ruinous. Not only have prices gone down to a
liable, but many other things have conspirCd 10
rjure the cattle Industry The cattle men
have literally been pushed TO the wal and the
mis- laced and exaggerated sentiment in favor
of the actual settler has led TO tzG III st posi-
tive restrictive measures agsinst the owners CT
the long horns. The Crv against the "c5ttle
Bings," the "bullionaires'' and the corpora
ITEMS" while fou ded in the beginningin Just
desire 10 protect the people against ercroa h
menta has been more far-reaChing In Its fleets
than many reople Imagine. l CO Tess that l
hive been very much surprised at the condi-
ton of affairs, az cleaned from those whom
know to be reliable.
The editor then goes on to say: 81
mention these facts merely to show just
how things are drifting, and to direct, if
possible, serious thought to what should
be done to give the cattle interest boost.
| do not know Just what they want in the
way of legislation farther than specific
and definite lease law and 8 quarantine
law. They should have both CT these, and,
IN any event, lalcs already IN force and
shaped in prejulice should be repeated"
Like Mr.. Walsh, the Post editor shuts
his eyes to the plain facts and refuses to
recognize and confess that all the free
grass papers predicted of the lease law
has come about, viz: Not only the check
ing of immigration and settlement, but
the depression of the cattle industry.
And this result is not due to the papers
which opposed the law, but it is due to
the law which those papers opposed.
Three years ago THE GAZETTE commended
that the laws were framed in prejudice,
and that the very men against whom
the prejudice prevailed were the
very men who wanted the law
because it WAS "the only syst m by which
cattle ranches could be maintained" And
to-day 1t is Mr.. Goodnight and cattle
corporations that ask for continuance
of the lease law, and it is one OF the
ablest of the lease law advocates who
contends that "the laws already in force
and and shaped IN prejudice should be re
pealed."
The lease law was the response of self
ishness and prejudice to the demand OF
selfishness. According to eX-Land Com
missioner Walsh, it has retarded immigra-
ton and settlement, "as shown by the
register According to its ablest news
paper advocate, it has pat the "death
rattle in the throat of the "great industry
which, in the past, has brought millions
into Texas"
Repeal the law; free the state of the
incubus which has weighed on it for
three years; and let us 90 back to the
policy By which the United States gov
eminent has populated the western states
and territories, and under which Texas
grew and prospered until the greed o.
cattle syndicates and corporations Sc
cured law which they fondlY hoped
would enable them to maintain" theil
ranches at the expense of immigration
into the state and of its settlement.
The brilliant editor of the Post is
"almost persuaded" But he should no,
allow himself to be deceived. The TWEEN,
ty or less of great cattle syn.
dicates and corporations who are not only
willing but anxious to pay money into the
school fund for the privilege of placing ''a
check upon immigration and settlement
in the form of an "absolute" lease, are
not the cattle raisers of Texas save in
limited part. The bulk OF Texas cattle is
not in the hands of these corporations,
but is in the hands OF smaller raisers, and
this bulk of the cattle and every interest
of the state demand repeal of the lease
law which was "shaped in prejudice"